Leaders Re-Focus IHP+ to Improve Health Aid Coordination
May 24, 2013
Nellie Bristol, Research Fellow
Global Health Policy Center, Center for Strategic and International Studies
World Bank Group President Jim Yong Kim made a strong case May 21 for increasing alignment between donors and countries to improve delivery of health services, citing the International Health Partnership (IHP+) as a helpful vehicle.
“The fragmentation of global health action has led to inefficiencies that many ministers here know all too well: parallel delivery structures; multiplication of monitoring systems and reporting demands; ministry officials who spend a quarter of their time managing requests from a parade of well-meaning international partners,” he told the World Health Assembly in Geneva. “This fragmentation is literally killing people. We must take action to fix it, now.”
Kim said one of the solutions is IHP+, an initiative administered by the Bank and the World Health Organization (WHO), which he has been trying to help reinvigorate since taking the helm at the Bank last year.
Started in 2007 by then UK Prime Minister Gordon Brown, IHP+ creates a compact between participating countries and donor agencies to work together more cohesively in prioritizing progress on health issues. It commits countries to work with national stakeholders and international agencies in making future plans for health systems and to strengthen health and financial management systems. International organizations and bilateral donors pledge to work within national plans and use shared mechanisms for accounting of funds, performance reviews, and progress reports.
IHP+ has 59 participants including 33 developing countries and 26 development partners, including three that joined during the WHA this week: Haiti, Guinea Bissau and the U.S. Agency for International Development.
While the initiative had high-level political support initially through Gordon Brown, attention subsequently lagged. Kim and WHO Director-General Margaret Chan have been making efforts in the last few months to re-focus the group.
At a December meeting in Nairobi, partner countries developed a list of “seven behaviors” they would like to see from other participants to improve coordination and lessen bureaucracy. World Bank staffers say the countries themselves have been better at adhering to the compact than the other partners. Kim and Chan hope to improve on that with focus on the seven behaviors and more regular meetings among participants.
“We are reconfirming our shared commitment to IHP+ as the best vehicle to implement development effectiveness principles and support countries driving for results,” Kim told the World Health Assembly. He added: “It’s inspiring to see more and more countries taking charge, setting the agenda based on strong national plans, and making development partners follow the lead of governments.”
